The five closest races on the MLB All-Star ballot

If it feels like we live in a never-ending election cycle in 2016, that's not too far from the truth. But here's one election that ends this week: MLB All-Star voting, which finishes up at 11:59 p.m. ET Thursday. So start penciling in those circles ... errr, start clacking away on your keyboard.

If you haven't already used your personal allotment of 35 votes, head over to the All-Star site to make your choices before the clocks strikes midnight and Omar Infante turns back into a pumpkin.

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Truth be told, a few races look all but decided. For example: Salvador Perez is up by 2.7 million votes as the starting AL catcher; David Ortiz is leading by 2.3 million and Anthony Rizzo about 1.4 million. But there are still some places where you can have an impact. Here's the latest tally of votes that MLB released Monday:

To help you digest that, we've focused on the five closest races where your vote could actually mean something:

1. MOLINA VS. POSEY FOR NL CATCHER
This is by far the closest on the ballot, as just about 5,000 votes separate top vote-getter Yadier Molina (1,568,930) from No. 2 catcher Buster Posey (1,563,800). Posey is having a better season by every metric, but Yadi is a big fan favorite in St. Louis. Wilson Ramos (1,282,287), who has been the best offensive NL catcher this season, is still potentially in striking range too.

2. THE CROWDED AL OUTFIELD

Over in the American League, Mike Trout's 2.9 million votes make him a virtual lock to start in the outfield. Beyond that, Jackie Bradley Jr. is looking good at 2.18 million, but that third spot could belong to at least four guys: Mookie Betts (1,915,637), Lorenzo Cain (1,821,746), Mark Trumbo (1,801,969) or Jose Bautista (1,707,134). Of those, Betts is having the best season with 3.0 Wins Above Replacement, according to Fangraphs.

3. ZOBRIST VS. MURPHY FOR NL SECOND BASEMAN
Ben Zobrist (2,474,852) is one of the four starting infielders the Chicago Cubs would have on the NL team if voting ended today. By Thursday? Who knows. Daniel Murphy (2,167,918) of the Washington Nationals is coming on strong. Last week, Zobrist was up by 483K votes, now that the margin is about 307K. The nod deserves to go to Murphy, who is hitting .349 with more homers and RBIs than Zobrist. Zobrist, however, isn't a bad pick, as he's been the second most valuable second baseman in the NL this season.

4. BRYANT VS. ARENADO FOR NL THIRD BASEMAN
It's a pretty similar story at third base, where Kris Bryant holds the lead over Nolan Arenado — 2,459,704 to 2,108,503. But those numbers have gotten closer since last week, when Bryant's lead was about 527K. Just like at second base, both are good picks, but Arenado may deserve the nod here, since he has more homers, RBIs and a better batting average, plus he plays better defense.

5. RUSSELL VS. STORY FOR NL SHORTSTOP
You won't believe this: But we're talking about another NL infield position where a Cub is winning. This time it's shortstop Addison Russell (1,741,182), who is the least deserving of the Cubs starters. He has a lead of about 317K votes over Trevor Story (1,423,547). Truth is, neither of them deserve to be the starter and certainly not Russell, who ranks seventh among NL shortstops in WAR. Better choices would be Corey Seager or Brandon Crawford, who rank third and fourth, respectively.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz